Course Descriptions  By Course Department

Art History

The aim of this course is two-fold: First, to develop an understanding of the extraordinary variety of ways meaning is produced in visual culture; secondly, to enable students to analyze and describe the social, political and cultural effects of these meanings. By studying examples drawn from contemporary art, film, television, digital culture, and advertising we will learn techniques of analysis developed in response to specific media and also how to cross-pollinate techniques of analysis in order to gain greater understanding of the complexity of our visual world. Grades are based on response papers, class attendance and participation, and a midterm and a final paper. Occasional film screenings will be scheduled as necessary in the course of the semester.

This course explores Hollywood's current fascination with race and gender as social issues and spectacles. In particular, we will focus on the ways that social difference have become the sites of increasingly conflicted narrative and visual interactions in our films. To examine competing representations of racial difference and sexual difference in contemporary US culture, we analyze popular films of the 1980s and 1990s, from thrillers to action films to comedies.

The question of difference will be approached in this seminar through the narrow lens of what has come to be called "queer theory." We will read a select number of foundational texts, including Foucault's History of Sexuality and Freud's Three Essays, which will lay the groundwork for analysis of recent theorists working within the domains of psychoanalysis and new historicism. A central question for the seminar will be: How do these theories function politically? How do they work with and/or against a politics of rights? Students will lead seminar discussions on theoretical texts of their choosing.

Examines duality of women's lives: how they are subordinated in patriarchal systems cross-culturally and how they use indirect aggression to obtain power. Class participants consider race and class variation and the gender specific ways women respond to systemic subordination. Ethnography and ethnographic techniques enable students to interview at least three generations of women regarding their life histories.

How do human beings experience, make sense of, cope with and shape birth illness, and death in their own lives and in the lives of those who are close to them? Historical and contemporary examples from North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Post-1945 migrations to the U.S. through the lens of war. Far-ranging impacts of American military intervention in East and Southeast Asia on migration flows and the civil rights of American citizens of Asian descent.

What is the impact of a new global economy on families, marriage and communities around the world and in the United States? Are there new forms of transnational social relations, marriage, love, families?

Dance

Unveil the grace and beauty residing in the creative nature of Middle Eastern Dance. Improve strength, flexibility and self awareness of the body. Class work will include meditative movement, dance technique, improvisation and rhythm identification through music and drumming. Specific dance forms such as Egyptian & Turkish Oriental, Tunisian, American Tribal and Folkloric/Bedouin styles of North Africa will be taught. Discourse and research topics will explore issues of gender, body image, historical perspectives and Orientalism.

Traditional Folkloric roots of Middle Eastern Dance, focusing on specific Bedouin dance styles of North Africa (Raks Shaabi). Discourse and research will address issues of gender and body image. Improving strength, flexibility and self-awareness of the body, the class work will include meditative movement, dance technique, choreography and improvisation. No prior dance experience necessary.

Explores what sacred dance is and how can the sacred be revealed from within through the study and practice of the following topics: dance history overview, goddess worship and feminine spirit, women iconoclasts of American modern dance, spirituality and the body temple and various yoga practice techniques. Learn traditional dance sequences, circle dancing and dances of Universal Peace.

Dances that pertain to the life-cycle of women, celebrate rites of passage such as coming of age, circumcision, marriage, and childbirth. Cultural factors that contribute to the articulation of gender roles in post-colonial West Africa and the relationship of those roles to the performance ensemble.

Improve strength, flexibility and self-awareness of the body. Includes meditative movement, dance technique, improvisation and rhythm identification through music and drumming. Dance forms such as Egyptian, Turkish, and American Tribal will be taught. Traditional costuming will be addressed. History, art, and culture from these countries will be explored and experienced. Discourse and research topics will explore issues of gender, body image, historical perspectives and Orientalism.

English

In this course we shall examine women's lives through the act of non- fiction writing. Focusing on prose writing (rather than poetry), each student will actively practice the creative act of telling the truth about her own and other women's lives. We shall also read many diverse examples of women's autobio graphical writing and other non-fiction genres, by such acclaimed practitioners as Virginia Woolf, bell hooks, Alice Walker, Annie Dillard, Dorothy Allison, and Maxine Hong Kingston.

Advanced seminars focus on a particular body of works (literary or cinematic), a special research topic, or a particular critical or theoretical issue. One or more extended critical essays will be required.

Feminism has had a powerful impact on the developing field of film theory from the 1970s to the present. This course will examine the major feminist work on film, moving from the earlier text-based psychoanalytic theories of representation to theories of feminine spectatorship to studies of reception contexts and audience. We will also give some attention to the very important role of feminist theory in television studies. Weekly screenings, keyed to the readings, will allow us to test the value of these positions for close critical analysis of the film or television text. Readings to include: Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Constance Penley, Judith Mayne, Linda Williams, Jacqueline Bobo, Valerie Smith, Lynn Spigel, Lynne Joyrich, Julie D'Acci.

French

'Transnational sisterhood' or cultural imperialism? Legitimate ritualized practice or outdated violent ritual? Genital cutting, female circumcision, female genital surgery? The controversy over this practice already begins with the act of its naming. If there seems to be a consensus about the physical violence imposed on the female body, why is it that western feminist discourse is suspected of perpetuating the mutilation African voices? This course seeks to provide an understanding of the context in which a fragmented 'transnational sisterhood' allows for a proliferation of mutilated discourses on mutilated postcolonial bodies. Readings and Films include Alice Walker (Warrior Marks), Florence Ayissi Fauziya Kassindja (Do They Hear You When You Cry), Maryse Conde and more critical and theoretical readings from African, French and North American authors. In English.

'Transnational sisterhood' or cultural imperialism? Legitimate ritualized practice or outdated violent ritual? Genital cutting, female circumcision, female genital surgery? The controversy over this practice already begins with the act of its naming. If there seems to be a consensus about the physical violence imposed on the female body, why is it that western feminist discourse is suspected of perpetuating the mutilation African voices? This course seeks to provide an understanding of the context in which a fragmented 'transnational sisterhood' allows for a proliferation of mutilated discourses on mutilated postcolonial bodies. Readings and Films include Alice Walker (Warrior Marks), Florence Ayissi Fauziya Kassindja (Do They Hear You When You Cry), Maryse Conde and more critical and theoretical readings from African, French and North American authors. In English.

This course is a study of Black Paris, as imagined by three generations of Black cultural producers from the United States, the Caribbean and Africa. Paris is as a space of freedom and artistic glory that African American writers, solders and artists were denied back home. For colonized fricans, and Antilleans, Paris was the birthace of the Negritude, the cultural renaissance informed by the dreams and teachings of the Harlem Renaissance. Black Paris, for the young generations caught in the marginal space of poor suburbs, calls to mind images of burning cars, riots, dilapidated schools that are rendered through rap music, hip-hop that are weaving the thread of a new youth-oriented transnational imagination.

German

Freud is one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His ground-breaking work on dreams, the Oedipus Complex, and psychoanalytic method have profoundly changed our understanding of the psyche and social interaction. This course provides a basic survey of Freud’s most important and often controversial writings/discoveries within their historcial context and with regards to significant criticisms of his work. “Freud: An Introduction” is part of a cluster which includes courses of Marx and Nietzsche (these courses need not be taken in any particular order) Additionally majors and minors can sign up for GER 211 where significant texts will be read and discussed in German.

This course traces the development of the fantasy literature genre from ETA Hoffman’s The Golden Pot to JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Particular attention is devoted to the tropes and structures of fantasy narratives as they offer the reader an escape from a mundane or threatening world and provide intricate social critiques. Topics addressed include: wizards, witches, talking cats, flights of fantasy, new worlds, and social consructions of work, class, others, families, mothers, fathers, masculinity, femininity etc. Authors include: Hoffmann, Rowling, Shelley, Orwell, Tolkien, Kafka, Atwood etc.

History

This course treats the lives of children and their families in the 18th century against the background of important issues of the day, such as the growth of consumerism and the German cultural revival, as well as making contact with great Enlightenment thinkers who wrote extensively on education, such as John Locke and Jean-Jaques Rousseau. Topics studied include other Enlightenment educationists, toys and games, children's books and the training of affect, the importance of fairy tales, including their influence on psychoanalysis and its forerunners, child labour, and the lives of poor children.

The course provides an in-depth study of Susan B. Anthony and the world in which she lived. In addition to focusing on the major political issues that occupied Anthony and her coworkers—women’s rights, abolition, and temperance—the class will explore the social and cultural world of America during the century between Anthony’s birth (1820) and the adoption of the 19th Amendment (1920), with special emphasis on American musical life during this time. The seminar-style course will incorporate in-class presentations and discussion, field trips, and writing assignments ranging from short response papers to a final research paper. No prerequisite. Meets the writing intensive requirement.

This course will explore the history of African-American women from the 17th century to the present. African-American women developed a variety of responses to different economic, social, and political conditions in American society that depended on factors such as: the region they lived in, age, marital status, religious allegiances, class position, and political persuasions. Despite this diversity of experiences and identities African-American women continually contested the negative stereotypes presented in the dominant culture through political activism, social reform, and the sustaining of strong communities and families. In this class we shall explore the individual and collective actions of African-American women. We will focus on their personal stories, whether told through slave narrative, biographies, fiction or autobiography. By placing these individuals within their historical context we will gain a greater understanding of African-American women's lives, and American history more generally.

What does it mean to be human? What political, economic, religious, social, or sexual rights might be part of different people's working definitions? This course will look at both a) the historical development of conflicting theories of human rights and b) more contemporary debates about their ideal extent, their exercise, and their enforcement. Special topics will include debates over the meaning of the American and French Revolutions, the fight to design an International Declaration of Human Rights in the aftermath of World War II, the history of organizations such as Amnesty International, and the controversy around UN events such as the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, and the 2000 and 2005 Millennium Summits in New York City.

What does it mean to be human? What political, economic, religious, social, or sexual rights might be part of different people's working definitions? This course will look at both a) the historical development of conflicting theories of human rights and b) more contemporary debates about their ideal extent, their exercise, and their enforcement. Special topics will include debates over the meaning of the American and French Revolutions, the fight to design an International Declaration of Human Rights in the aftermath of World War II, the history of organizations such as Amnesty International, and the controversy around UN events such as the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, and the 2000 and 2005 Millennium Summits in New York City.

After a discussion of the Moynihan Report controversy and an assessment of the literature on the black family, the readings will investigate why and how stable black families were encouraged, and how they developed under slavery. The impact of factors such as economics, politics, religion, gender, medicine, and the proximity of free families, on the structure of the black family will be given special attention. In this way, the structure of the slave family on the eve of Emancipation, and its preparedness for freedom, will be tested and assessed. Students will be encouraged to identify persistent links between the "history" of slavery and the black family, and the development of social policy.

This course will explore the role of gender and sexuality in American cities from the nineteenth century to the present. Through intensive reading and a research paper we will explore how gender and sexuality shaped the urban environment in the arenas of labor, politics, everyday life, and the built environment. We will also examine how the structures and cultures of American cities prescribed normative gender and sex roles on urban residents.

This course will explore the role of gender and sexuality in American cities from the nineteenth century to the present. Through intensive reading and a research paper we will explore how gender and sexuality shaped the urban environment in the arenas of labor, politics, everyday life, and the built environment. We will also examine how the structures and cultures of American cities prescribed normative gender and sex roles on urban residents.

Japanese

Issues of contemporary concern in Japan, including national, ethnic and racial identity; changing gender and sex roles; the family and generational conflict; immigration and work; the emperor system, war, and memory; cultural authenticity; and Japan's changing roles in Asia and in the world.

Issues of contemporary concern in Japan, including national, ethnic and racial identity; changing gender and sex roles; the family and generational conflict; immigration and work; the emperor system, war, and memory; cultural authenticity; and Japan's changing roles in Asia and in the world.

This century's major periods of social and political upheaval in Spanish America are well documented by a variety of texts that claim to tell the truth about historical events. Many of these texts acquire the status of "literature" and not mere "reporting." This course will ask the following questions: How have Spanish American writers constructed factual, truth-telling texts? What impact has photography had on the writing of nonfiction? What expectations do we as readers bring to documentary literature? How are the lines drawn -- and blurred -- between factual and fictional discourses? Readings will be chosen to represent revolutionary Mexico, labor struggles of the 1920s, revolutionary Cuba, the repression in the Southern Cone, the Central American insurgencies, and the survival of indigenous cultures. Short essays; research term paper. Class taught in English.

Linguistics

This course will investigate various aspects of language as used by members of sexual minority groups, focusing on language of and about gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people, including "reclaimed epithets" (e.g., 'dyke' and 'queer'), gender vs. sexuality vs. sex, and the role of language in creating /maintaining sexual categories and identities.

Psychology

The question of difference will be approached in this seminar through the narrow lens of what has come to be called "queer theory." A select number of foundational texts, including Foucault's History of Sexuality and Freud's Three Essays, will lay the groundwork for analysis of recent theorists working within the domains of psychoanalysis and new historicism. Students will lead seminar discussions on theoretical texts of their choosing.

In this seminar, we will examine ancient Christian sources from the first four centuries CE that focus on women's lives and women's religious experiences. Topics include: the debates over women's religious authority, the prominence of female martyrs, the relationship between women and heresy, virginity and sexual renunciation, the Christian family, forms of female asceticism and Christian holy women, and the role of women in the 'rise' of Christianity.

Spanish

Through study of texts (mostly novels) written by women from Latin America, broad questions concerning cultural contexts with respect to sexuality and gender, language, aesthetics, psychology, and social issues are addressed. The course uses materials from a variety of fields (literary and cultural theory, film studies, psychology, history, sociology,
anthropology, feminist studies) in addition to the primary texts. All texts and discussions in English. Emphasis on collaborative research and progressive writing assignments.

Examine images of women in a variety of films from Latin America and Spain. Topics range from the use of "the feminine" in war propaganda, to films of the Franco dictatorship, and from Latin American political documentaries to popular commercial films. Emphasis on cinematic representation as visual ideology, and on films at the millennium. Class taught in English. Written work in Spanish for SP credit.

Explores women's evolving roles in American politics. Topics include: a brief historical review of women's rights; women's roles in social movements; and women in electoral politics and as elected officials.

How theories of gender, social organization, and biological sex shape the areas of health care. Examine gender, social class, and race in mediating health effects, with emphasis on women's health. Examine the life cycle, transitions, trauma, access to services, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and longevity.

Queer Theory emerged out of the intersection of conceptualizations of gender/sexuality advanced by feminist scholars, early LGBT scholarship, and theories of postmodernism. Queer theory has not only attempted to recuperate non-dominant sexualities, but perhaps more tellingly, has sought to deconstruct the assumed correlation between sex, gender, and sexuality. In other words, what ought we to do with bodies that do not conform to binary gender norms? How might we understand sexuality if it is a contingent practice with open-ended objects? In what ways can we understand the embodiments of gender/sexuality as a “performance”? How have queer identities been informed by other socially significant forms of identity (such as: race, class, gender, nationality, etc)?

Feminist art historians have changed the way we think about images of women, works by women artists, and the very notion of artistic genius. This course will investigate the way in which visual images of women participate with other cultural and social factors in the construction of the idea of woman. It will look at types and conventions in works by male and female artists, as well as in anonymous prints and advertising from different periods, with a concentration on the 19th and 20th centuries. Readings will introduce a variety of approaches.

Road-side signs, weathervanes, quilts, nut crackers in the shape of a woman's body--what do vernacular and popular objects from the 19th century to the present tell us about American culture? These problematized classes of objects are sometimes called craft, folk art, outsider art, or vernacular art. We will chart the history of thought about theses rubrics, from late 19th century European writings on craft and ornament to early 20th century American writings on folk art, to the contemporary fascination with "outsider" art. In some semesters, this course may focus on specialized topics, such as "folk erotica" or vernacular environments. May be taken more than once for credit with permission of instructor.

This course will examine literary, artistic, and theoretical representations of gender and sexuality as they have changed in the course of the 20 Century. The focus will be on texts from Western Europe and the US, but we will also consider other perspectives. From the New Women to French Feminists and transnational feminism. from homophile societies to “queer nation and gay marriage, from Sigmund Freud to Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, we will explore the contested and politically charged debates around gender and sexuality that have shaped our views of identity over the last century.

It is common now to hear that we live in a transnational age, but what does this really mean? How do we imagine our transnational community? In this course we will examine contemporary transformations from national to trans-national culture by focusing precisely on film production. This course will examine how film provides one of the central sources of transnational images. Germany will provide us with a case study and we will view a wide variety of German and European, national and transnational films. Through this case study we will address larger questions of globalization. Through hot new cult films like "Run, Lola Run," or big budget epics like "House of the Spirits," we will examine the aesthetic and technical transformations that have given rise to these new ways of imagining our community. PLEASE NOTE: Attendance at weekly film screening is mandatory -- alternative time will be set up.

Advanced seminars focus on a particular body of works (literary or cinematic), a special research topic, or a particular critical or theoretical issue. One or more extended critical essays will be required.

It is the student's responsibility to arrange the internship with the organization and to find a professor as an advisor for the internship. Organization/Companies currently offering internships are Afterimage, Alternatives for Battered Women, Center for Dispute Settlement, City Council of Rochester, Division of Human Rights, Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley, Monroe Districts Attorney's Office, Planned Parenthood, St. Joseph's Villa, Sojourner House, Susan B. Anthony House, TV Dinner/Metro Justice, Urban League of Rochester, Visual Studies Workshop, Wheatley Library Branch and the YWCA. Position descriptions are available in Lattimore 538.

Open only to senior majors or by permission of instructor. Honors in Research recognizes the completion of a distinguished thesis, research paper of approximately 35 pages researched and written under the direction of the faculty advisor, and approved by the faculty advisor and second reader. It is expected that this thesis will be based on research undertaken through WST 393H and WST 394H, and completed in WST 397.

This course will examine literary, artistic, and theoretical representations of gender and sexuality as they have changed in the course of the 20 Century. The focus will be on texts from Western Europe and the US, but we will also consider other perspectives. From the New Women to French Feminists and transnational feminism. from homophile societies to “queer nation and gay marriage, from Sigmund Freud to Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, we will explore the contested and politically charged debates around gender and sexuality that have shaped our views of identity over the last century.

This course explores how ideas about gender and sex have shaped past and present approaches to health and medicine. We will consider the effects gender, race, and class have had on medical knowledge and practices, with particular emphasis on women’s bodies and women’s health. Topics will include the social and cultural constructions of gender, the politics of human sexuality, women’s interventions in the fields of health and medicine, and reproductive politics. This is a writing-intensive course and may be counted toward the University of Rochester’s Women’s Studies major, minor, or cluster.